the great foes of reality

Recently got into a discussion about the importance of words. It was a really difficult debate for me, because, on the surface, I'd like to be the last person on earth to sit on the side of words being less important than other forms of communication and expression. But, perhaps my problem with the other side's argument "there is no form of expression more important than words," is that it renders everything that surrounds the words meaningless. Certainly the power of being able to express yourself verbally can't be denied, but the ability to do so doesn't simply rest on knowing the right words. I don't think the person was necessarily trying to simplify it to that extreme, but to some extent that was what they accomplished. My point was that words are meaningless without context that anything can be said, nice or not, but if there is no context and if there is no understanding, or if there is no wish to understand--even the most well-intentioned, well-considered words are rendered meaningless. Since words are a human creation, and humans are inherently imperfect, so, too are their words. And so too are people's use of them. And that's why they are simply one of a dozen tools that must be used for true expression.

Now, I'm not necessarily only referring to the spoken word here. The same kind of too-clever transposition of words on a page can (and does) have the same effect as listening to a language you don't speak. An author might write a beautifully turned phrase, or use a unique form of sentence structure, however, if not done with skill or understanding of the basic rules and form of language (and often if it is) the words become complete gibberish--even to those who are familiar with a variety of writing styles and those who open their thoughts to such thought play. Say, for example, someone who might want to read Thomas Pynchon or Don DeLillo, but find themselves returning again and again to authors similar to John Cheever or Charles Bukowski--all four of those writers are phenomenal wordsmiths, with writing styles that run the gamut. For me, authors who write in prose style similar to Pynchon's are often, to my eye and mind, too oblique. I actually find what happens, instead of actually reading or becoming part of the story, is that I instead wind up getting distracted by the words themselves, and how they sit next to each other. I begin looking for what the author was trying to accomplish, rather than what he is trying to say. And when this happens, the only thing that I see is how hard he is working to find the right word, rather than telling me a story, or communicating (there have been quite a few more articulate articles about this type of thing). I don't know, I think I may need to consider all of this some more. It's a very complicated discussion.

related links:

World Wide Words
Choice of Words
WordSpy
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"Words are Sweet Sounds for Objects Unreal" by Justin Simoni. Copyright © 2003-2004